Dreams and Reality
by Reiven
Summary: Pete/Tazusa. Days turn into months, and soon Tazusa begins to wonder if it all had just been a dream.
1. Dreams and Reality

_Standard disclaimer applies.  
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**Dreams_ and Reality_**  
_By Reiven_

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_"Was it real?"_

Tazusa couldn't stop herself from wondering from time to time. The days, it seemed so short looking back on it, she'd spent with Pete sharing her body, sharing her agony (or mostly the one she inflicted on herself to get back at him) and everything else that came along with it; had it really happened, or had it just been from built up stress as Yoko and her coach told her?

She didn't want to believe it. Pete's company, hearing his voice in her head (looking back on it, she thought he had a very sweet melody to his voice), being forced to listen to his advice that--in the hindsight--had only done to help her; provide a sense of reasoning, but at that time, she thought he was trying to annoy her by doing so.

She'd heard someone say once, 'things are only as real as you believe them to be'; this applied to Pete in Tazusa's mind. She wanted him to be real; she realized that at one point after coming to the conclusion that eating tomatoes or torturing herself didn't help get rid of him. She didn't want him to leave, because she'd grown attached to him, to hearing his voice in her head and having him inhabit her body even though it was hard getting changed and she didn't feel comfortable going to the bathroom.

She missed Pete. She loved Pete.

It was an absurd notion, that. Falling in love with a ghost inhabiting your body. It was a sure-win script for cheesiest plot line and Tazusa probably would have ended up laughing out loud at the cinema if such a movie ever came out…at least, she would have. Now, she'd look on and cry. She almost cries all the time, especially when her mind begins to ask questions like: was it just a figment of her imagination? Because it pains her to think that.

She misses Pete, and bit-by-bit, the memory of him is slowly fading away. One day, she fears, that she would look back on those days and say that it wasn't real. Pete didn't exist, only in the confines of her over imaginative mind.

She walks around town by herself a few times a week, looking at the arcade, the cinema, glancing at the Canadian embassy when she passes by just so that she remembers. Those places, where the memory of Pete is still fresh in her mind, make her smile; a small one of longing and memories. She sees the joy on the faces of the couples on the street, the ones sitting in a booth sharing an ice-cream and the ones sitting side by side on the park bench doing nothing. It pains her to think that no matter how much she thinks of Pete, he's still only a blank space in her mind, a faceless entity.

She loved Pete, but she didn't even know what he looked like.

On many occasions she'd found herself musing over what he would have looked like. He was an aviator, he was a teenager and he was from Canada. She expected him to be blonde, because that what how she stereotypically categorised foreigners; blonde and blue eyed. Was he fat or skinny? Short or tall? Fair skinned or tanned?

She wanted to know these details, but at the same time, she was afraid that it wouldn't align properly with the image of Pete her mind had thought up.

When one television announcer spoke though a large glass window of one of the many shops along the road, she only vaguely heard the sound of his voice. The words were like slurred mumbles as far as she was concerned. When he said; "…shocking tragedy involving the young upstart, Pete Pumps…" Tazusa straightened up and took notice.

Blonde hair and blue eyes; just like she'd imagined. The kind face and bright smile that light up the entire room. This was Pete Pumps. Tazusa gasped, hand flying to her mouth as the image burned itself into her mind. This was Pete Pumps. His kind face, the aura that surrounded him. He looked nothing like how she'd imagined him to look like, and yet, it seemed rightly so.

This was Pete Pumps and looking at his face made Tazusa cry tears of sorrow and of joy.

She watched on, silent except for the hitched sobs; motionless except for the tears that streamed slowly down the side of her face as the video showed images of Pete from past interviews. It showed his face, smiling and full of emotion. She heard his voice again, and knew without a doubt that this was him. She saw his flight shows and saw that day, on the ice. She thought of Pete and a rush of memories came flooding back, this time, to stay.

She stared at Pete and knew that she loved him, and will always.

That night, when Yoko came into her room, she stared peculiarly at the object occupying her sisters bed table, but then a sly smile spread across her face as she said; "Tazu-nee has a boyfriend!"

Tazusa just looked at the shorter girl, her face blank and eyes dim. She looked between Yoko and towards the table where the frame sat, occupying a newspaper cut out of Pete (the inset photo from the day he died that she'd printed out from the library's database) and she allowed a small, uncharacteristic, sombre smile to curl. "No…He's the ghost that lived in my body."

That was all that needed to be said.

_The end._

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	2. Reality of Dreams

I originally posted this as a stand-alone story, but since I've been charmed and praised into writing (at least) another part, I thought I might as well make it a multi-chaptered story, instead of three one-shots.

Still dedicated to everyone who reviewed Dreams and Reality, and a special shout-out to nahumthebest, without whom, this probably would not have come about. So, enjoy.

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Part 2: Reality of Dreams

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It was February the 23rd.

It was February the 23rd and exactly one year ago Pete died.

Today was February the 23rd, exactly one year ago Pete had died and by some cruel twist of fate, Tazusa was in Canada.

She had arrived in Toronto not two days before for a skating exhibition and every single day had been trying. She could not look at a building without wondering if Pete had ever been there. She couldn't look at a park without wondering if Pete had ever walked in that park, if the people strolling on the park pathway had ever bumped into him without realizing. She couldn't look at the shops aligned on the side of the road without wondering if Pete had ever bought a hotdog at that shop or a pretzel at that one; if his presence had ever been in there, smiling and just happy to be alive.

Tazusa was supposed to be thrilled. She was in _Canada; _it has always been her dream to be an internationally recognized star. She wanted people to crowd around here asking for autographs, she wanted the flash of cameras going off around her, she wanted to be idolized by children. But that was then and this is now.

Now Tazusa just wanted Pete back in her head.

She wanted him to annoy her with his smart-alec comments and his words of wisdom. She wanted to torment him with tomatoes. She even wanted him there when she was getting changed or using the toilet, just as long as it meant that he was around.

"Tazu-nee?" she head Yoko calling her name.

"Hm?"

"Are you okay? You seem a bit down ever since we arrived."

"I'm okay. Just…some sad memories, that's all."

"Of…the ghost that lived in your body?"

Tazusa remembered saying those exact words to Yoko the day she put up the framed cut-out of Pete's newspaper clipping on her dresser, but hearing someone say it aloud made it sound absurd even to her.

She'd said those words then, it seemed so long ago, and she didn't know if it was her tone or the tears dripping down her cheek as she said it, but Yoko never questioned her. Tazusa knew that everyone thought she was going crazy, even after Pete left, and she didn't think that Yoko really believed her words. But she always makes Tazusa her favourite cakes on days where Tazusa feels the emptiness of Pete's absence extra hard and she pulls Tazusa away from company with the excuse of needing help in the next room when Tazusa looks like she's about to knock out someone teeth, on those days when Tazusa realized that Pete isn't there to keep her calm.

Yoko took Tazusa's silence as an affirmative. "Well, visiting those kids will cheer you up, Tazu-nee. I heard that the hospital administration sent in a personal request on behalf of the children when they heard you were coming to Canada. Isn't this what you've always dreamed of? People recognize you, Tazu-nee. They want to be like you when they grow up."

"Maybe they shouldn't want to be like me," said Tazusa quietly. Yoko wasn't sure if she'd even spoken until she continued. "Because if I were me, I wouldn't want to be anyone else other than myself."

"But, Tazu-nee…" Yoko could almost hear the crickets chirping in her head, "You _are_ you."

It took Tazusa a moment to register Yoko's words, but when she did she could feel a vein throbbing in her forehead from annoyance.

"You know what I mean!"

Yoko only chuckled and Tazusa was torn between feeling irritated and equally amused.

The limo pulled up at the entrance to the hospital not a minute later and Tazusa suddenly realized that she was set for an afternoon alone (not counting Yoko, after her coach ditched her for a date and sent Yoko in his stead) in a country where the only words she really knew was 'Hello,' 'Shut up,' and 'Kiss my ass.'

But all that changed the moment she stepped through the doors of the pediatric care center and all the children started chattering excitedly away in intelligible English. Tazusa didn't know what they were saying, but judging by their expressions of awe, it seemed to be some good things.

Tazusa signed some autographs, took some photos and did some prearranged activities with the kids like drawing. She realized that sometimes words weren't even necessary.

The minutes flew by and before she realized it, the time was up. It had been two hours since she arrived (two hours since she'd thought of Pete) and she'd amassed quite a few mementos from the children; drawing of herself and Yoko, rainbow coloured papers that said 'I love Tazusa' and various artwork that the children had made for her.

Tazusa put away her own drawing, at the very bottom of the pile. She didn't realize what she'd been drawing, it never even occurred to her at the time, but in the middle of her almost blank piece of paper, stood a little stick-man with a yellow bush for hair and blue eyes.

"Did you enjoy your afternoon, Tazu-nee?" asked Yoko as she leafed through the drawings.

"Yes. I did," said Tazusa earnestly. "I really did. But I think I have to use the bathroom now. I haven't been since morning."

"I think I saw the sign for the bathroom a few corridors back. I'll wait for you here."

"I'll be back soon."

Finding the sign supposedly a few corridors back was easier said than done, especially with all the English letterings on the doors and along the walls.

Tazusa tried reading one of the signs, but got as far as, "Opu-tu-me-turisu," before giving up.

About an hour later (it was really about five minutes) Tazusa was still no closer to her goal. The nurses weren't much help, two just stared blankly at her before strolling away, one smiled understandingly at her and suddenly picked up the phone. Tazusa recognized the word 'crazy' and quickly made a dash for it.

She's walked in circles, up and down the hallways, gone up a flight of stairs and down two. Took the elevator twice and still could not find the corridor Yoko had spoken of.

'_Tazusa, Tazusa, Tazusa…'_ She could almost hear the amusement Pete's voice if he were there. _'I told you not to eat tomatoes. They make you dim.'_

Tazusa couldn't help the smile that curled at her lips. She missed all the good times she'd shared with Pete, even the bad ones.

By now she found herself wondering around aimlessly, lost in thought. She only barely remembered that Yoko was still waiting for her and that if she didn't turn up soon, her coach would arrive with the cavalry, horns blaring. She knew this, but it didn't explain why she could not stop herself from walking, why she could not stop her feet from moving as if they actually had a destination to get to.

It didn't explain why, when Tazusa walked up to an glass door, that it felt like she was supposed to be there.

There wasn't a sign on the door and the nurses and staff bustling around didn't notice the young Asian girl standing in an almost dumbstruck manner in front of the door to the room she should not be entering. No one stopped her.

Tazusa didn't know why, but everything just felt right.

She pushed open the door and a stale silence greeted her, broken by a steady beeping sound somewhere behind a white veil.

The glass door offered not cover, but no one stopped and stared. No one even noticed that she was there.

Tazusa felt her heart skip a beat.

She knew she wasn't supposed to be there. What if the person woke up and found a stranger standing in his room? What if the person's family came and saw the unfamiliar foreigner in their son or daughters' room?

Tazusa swallowed her uncertainty and pulled back the curtain.

And she stared.

There was a young boy lay on the bed, half covered by the crisp white sheets. His tousled hair was blonde and spread out on the pillow like a halo. His eyes were closed, but Tazusa knew that they were blue. His skin was white, almost luminous and his cheeks gaunt. He looked skinnier than in the paper cutting, but Tazusa knew that it was Pete.

He was sleeping, but his face looked as kind as she imaged by hearing his voice.

He was beautiful and Tazusa didn't realize when she'd brought up her hands to her face and felt the warm wetness of tears as they slid down her cheeks and down her arms.

She almost pinched herself to make sure it wasn't a dream.

Tazusa wasn't sure how long she stood there motionless, watching the rise and fall of Pete's chest and the steady rhythm of the monitor showing that Pete was indeed alive.

She didn't know where she moved, or how she did it with her brain still frozen, but the next thing she realized, she was by his bedside, her hands grabbing onto his, holding on as if he would disappear if she didn't. She felt his cool skin slowly absorb the heat from her palms, his long, pale fingers intertwining with her own and the dull thud of his heart and Tazusa was at home.

"Pete," She said quietly, resting her cheek on their joined hands.

She watched his face, so pale and thin, and couldn't think of anything more gorgeous.

"I've wanted to tell you for so long, Pete. I've missed you. I love you. No matter what happens, I'll never leave you."

Her heart skipped a beat when she felt a twitch under her fingers. It was a miracle, like something straight out of a soap opera (which Tazusa never cared to follow). It only happened in cheesy romance movies and anime, and Tazusa even scoffed when Yoko remarked about how romantic it was to have the object of your affection recover from a traumatic incident after hearing your soulful love confession, as tacky as it sounded, but Tazusa was at that place and she could not think of mean thing to say about those movies.

It was slow and the anticipation worn, but when Pete's eyelashes fluttered, Tazusa almost sobbed.

"Pete?" She called. She didn't know if he was the same Pete she'd grown to love, or if he'd even know who she was, but it didn't matter.

Pete was alive.

Eyelids opened to reveal sky blue eyes. Just like Tazusa had imagines. They were glassy and dazed, and when the owner realized that there was someone in the room currently latching onto his hand, the gaze shifted and Tazusa found herself immersed in pools of blue.

She held her breath but dared a small smile. "Pete…" she said.

And it took just one action; his tired eyes sparkling, speaking volumes of memories about skating and tomatoes and Tazusa melted.

Pete smiled.

…_to be continued._

I haven't watched the anime in ages, so some things might be canon-ly wrong (I wouldn't know), but hope you enjoyed anyway.


	3. Realizing what Mattered

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_Part 3: Realizing what Mattered_

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When Pete smiled at Tazusa, it felt like the sun was shining down on her and everything way going to be all right. But it wasn't all right.

Pete wasn't all right.

He wasn't the happy-go-lucky, kind boy who inhabited her body for a hundred days. He was a young boy who barely survived a horrific plane crash. He was luck to be alive.

What Tazusa gathered (after tireless questioning and having Yoko translate everyone's statements using a translating program on the computer) was that one year ago Pete defied all the doctors' expectations by living. Exactly one year ago, on the 23rd of February at 4.35 P.M., he died…but then he came back.

What followed the miracle was basically a year of slipping in and out of consciousness. Some nurses had said that they'd walked into his room as he came out of his Persistent Vegetative State to find his glazed, unfocused eyes scanning around the hospital room, as if looking for something. When he didn't find it, he slipped back into unconsciousness.

Now Pete was awake, but he wasn't much better.

It hurt Tazusa to see Pete so ill. The Pete she knew was strong willed and go-to. He didn't let anything keep him down; not Tazusa cynic point of view on life or her pessimism, not even life itself. _That_ Pete was the guy everyone found annoying, but would end up inviting to a movie or a party every time without fail because he was the life of the party. But the Pete in front of her eyes, who would sometimes stare blankly at nothing when he thinks she isn't looking, looks like the party took the life out of him.

But none of that mattered, because Tazusa loved him.

She never spoke those words aloud, but they hovered in her mind every waking moment. Every time she looked at Pete, even though she knew the hardships they faced, whatever it was, they would get through it, because she loved him.

When she helped prop him up against his pillow and slowly fed him soup or porridge or whatever food the hospital allowed him to have, the only thing she could think about was that he was really here; the person who haunted her every moment for a hundred days, the person who was the bane of her existence, but slowly became a friend. The person who was too kind and funny and before either of them realized, and made Tazusa fall head over heels for him.

At the end of the day, this was the only thing that mattered.

Pete couldn't talk very much for a time while his body recuperated from the trauma of, not only the accident, but the events immediately following the accident, but he looked at Tazusa like the sun rose only for her. He couldn't do much besides resting in the crisp white hospital bed, but he stroked the back of Tazusa's hand with his thumb and made her feel like a little girl who'd received a kiss from the little boy she had a crush on. Tazusa didn't ask him if he remembered or how much he remembered; it was the unspoken, fleeting moments that passed between them that answered her unasked question.

Yoko didn't know what to say or do. Coach was on the verge of spontaneous human combustion. Sarcastic the Third was probably sticking needles into a plushie likeness of Tazusa at home.

None of that mattered, because Tazusa loved Pete and she put her life on hold for him.

That was almost three months ago.

She takes private classes in Canada, even taking English lessons and she hasn't participated in a single competition in all those months.

Yoko brings her papers from Japan when she comes to visit and Tazusa almost rolls her eyes at the rumors spreading as to the reason for her sudden hiatus. She hides the papers when Pete returns from physical therapy because he still doesn't know what she's done. He doesn't know what she gave up to be there for him.

"Tazusa," he says softly, a smile akin to the one she imagines he had before lightening up his face. "Didn't I tell you that when you frown, one tree dies in the rainforest?"

Tazusa suppresses a chuckle. "Shut up or I'll feed you tomatoes for lunch."

Pete involuntarily shudders but his smile did not wane.

Tazusa watched him closely as she helps him get off his wheelchair and onto the bed. She watches him smile and can't help but admire him.

Yoko was young when their parents divorced and they went to live with her coach, but she took to the parenting duties like she'd been doing so her whole life. But Tazusa…for a long time, Tazusa blamed herself for her parents divorce; maybe she wasn't a good enough daughter, maybe there was something more she could have done, should have done. There was a lot of maybe's but no definite answer. She closed herself off to people, used words to scare them off, even the people she should have kept close.

Pete lost his father when he was a baby, ironically to an airplane mishap and his mother never fully recovered from the heartbreak. She fell into depression and overdosed on anti-depressant when Pete was ten. He was bounced from one relatives' house to another before finally settling down with his grandmother. She died three weeks after he turned eighteen.

The reason Pete is who he is, Tazusa gathered, was because he'd seen first hand what sadness can do to a person, what it can drive someone to do. How pent up frustrations and anger can affect people. Pete had experienced heart-wrenching sadness in life and was left with no one, and yet he was nothing like Tazusa. He was kind where Tazusa was hard. He was funny where Tazusa was cynical. He was open where Tazusa was cut-off. He expressed everything, while Tazusa showed nothing.

They were the exact opposite and sometimes Tazusa wonders if that was the reason that Pete ended up with her; to help her… to be her guardian angel. He'd done so and more.

Tazusa could not begin to image how her life had not turned up if Pete hadn't showed up; what she would have ended up as…a has-been? Or a never-was.

But here she was, one year on. She was an internationally recognized skater. People looked up to her and they idolized her. This was her dream and it would not have been realized if it wasn't because of Pete. What she did three months ago when she decided that for the first time, she was going to think about someone else, she didn't regret it for a single moment. Sometimes she hears Swan Lake on TV and she can't help imagining herself out on the ice, the wind blowing in her hair and the rush of adrenalin running through her veins; but looking at Pete, staring into his clear blue eyes, Tazusa knows that there isn't anywhere else she'd rather be.

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It's been four months and Tazusa's patience surprises no one more than herself.

Tazusa always hated hospitals. The walls were too white, the people were always too sick and depressed and everywhere you go it smells like lemon scented air freshener. Tazusa hates those. Her father's car used to smell like lemons.

That's why Tazusa didn't like hospitals, but being with Pete, helping him just like he helped her so many times before, it was worth the stay.

She pushes Pete's wheelchair out onto the rooftop garden of the hospital building, over looking the city. He's wearing a pair of green hospital pajamas and the hooded sweater Tazusa had bought for him. It has little red tomato prints all over it.

"It feels so good to be outside," said Pete, stretching his arms as wide as his still recuperating body would allow. His cheeks were not as gaunt and his skin had regained some colouring. He looked so much better than on that fateful day when Tazusa found him again. Although there was still a long way to go before Pete would be fully recovered, seeing his smile and the way his eyes lit it up when he did, Tazusa was glad to be on for the ride.

"You need some air, otherwise the sterile hospital smell is always going to stick to your skin," said Tazusa, wheeling his chair through a path outlined by potted plants and stopping by the side of the guardrail, where there was a seating area set up.

"That's the Tazusa I know and love; always so practical," replied Pete with a grin.

Tazusa didn't fail to notice the use of the word 'love' and she hoped that her face didn't show how much her heart was racing at the mention.

"Of course! Someone needs to be. If it were up to you, I don't doubt that you'd orchestrate a 'Giving out hugs for free' rally at every street corner and sell all your possessions to start living in a nudist colony."

Pete laughed at that. There was no sound sweeter than that, Tazusa thought, though she wondered if the stay at the hospital, where it seemed that their TV only subscribed to Spanish novella channels was affecting her. She never used to be this clichéd. She laughed at drama clichés before. Now she was one.

"You're deep in thought Tazusa, another habit picked up while I was away?"

If it wasn't for his status as sick patient, Tazusa would have smacked him upside the head. She wanted to do so for a long time, but given the situation they were back then, it would have been impossible without hurting herself and she'd hurt herself plenty already.

"I'd forgotten how annoying you could be, Pete, maybe I'm leaving now," said Tazusa through half-lidded eyes.

"Aw, come on, Tazusa, I was just kidding," said Pete, grabbing her hand. "After all, where would you go, since you're not skating anymore?"

Tazusa could hear her train of thought derailing in a mass of fire and explosion. "Who said that?"

"I figured most myself, since you spent at least eight hours here everyday, when would you have time to train? That and your sister dropped by the other day while you were out. She told me what you did…and she told me to give you a newspaper from home. It's still in the cabinet next to my bed, by the way."

Tazusa was dumbstruck. She didn't know whether to be angry at Yoko for spilling the beans and not tell her that she'd talked with Pete, angry at Pete for not telling her that he knew, or angry at herself because what he said wasn't wrong.

"I just wanted to be here…to help you," she said.

"I know, and I'm grateful. But I never would have asked you to give up your life for me. Thing would have worked out eventually. I want you to skate, Tazusa. It's what you were meant to do, to be. Not some nursemaid."

"Pete…"

"You should call your coach and tell him that you're coming home, and to set up the best, strictest, practice schedule possible so that you can get back in shape in time for the next tournament."

"But, what about—"

"I'll still be here, working my butt off to get back to the civilized world. It's a wide world out there Tazusa, and you deserve more than the cramped up space in my hospital room."

Tazusa felt he eyes sting with fresh tears. She didn't want to leave, but she knew that what he said was true. "But…but…"

"Tazusa…"

"I love you, Pete," she confessed for the first time. She confessed the way she wanted to when he was about to leave her more than a year before.

Pete gave her a small, kind smile. "I know, Tazusa, and I you. But skating is your life—"

"I want you to be my life."

"I need you to be free, Tazusa and not feel obligated to give up your dreams for me. I couldn't live with myself. And it's not like we won't see each other anymore. I'll still see you on the television, wowing the spectators and turning other girls green with envy."

"But I want to see you. I want you by my side, Pete."

"And you will. But right now we have our own personal demons to deal with; your skating and my recovery. If you're too caught up in my needs, Tazusa, you won't be able to concentrate on what you need. Right now what you need is to skate. To be free."

"Pete…I…"

"We'll see each other again very soon. I promise. I always keep my promises," said Pete and Tazusa notes the finality in his voice.

She goes to wipe the tears dripping down her cheek and off her chin, but Pete reaches up and flicks away the trickling tear.

"Don't cry, Tazusa. This isn't a goodbye. This is just the beginning," he says and reaches over to circle his arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. Tazusa sobs quietly into his shoulder and that's how they stay until the sun sets in the horizon, casting an orange glow from behind the high-rise buildings.

- - - - -

Two days later, Tazusa is all packed. She'd bid goodbye to her tutor and the doctors and nurses she'd gotten to know over the past four months. But standing in Pete's hospital room, staring at the walls she'd gotten so used to seeing drove it all home. She would miss the small crack at the corner of the ceiling that looked a little like Mika. She would miss waking up, cramped and sore from sitting in the plastic chair for too long, and see Pete's face when she opened her eyes. She would even miss this cold, impersonal hospital room, because it was Pete's.

"It isn't goodbye, Tazusa, this is just hello," Pete said, almost cryptically from the bed and Tazusa held back the tears threatening to spill out again.

"I'll miss you, Pete."

"We'll see each other again, Tazusa. It was always meant to be, you of all people should know that."

Tazusa smiled at those words.

"Now that's the Tazusa I want to see," Pete says, reaching over to grab her hand. He opened her palm and placed a small object that Tazusa couldn't see, before press her fingers together into a fist. Tazusa could feel the sharp edges of the object poking into the soft flesh of her palm.

Without opening up her hand to see what it was, Tazusa brought her fist up to her chest and smiled.

"There is absolutely no doubt that we'll meet again, but I know that sometimes words just aren't convincing enough, so every time you start doubting yourself, I want you to look at that. If nothing else, I will be back for it."

Tazusa swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.

"I'll miss you, Pete."

"I'll miss you more."

And that was all that was needed to be said. With one last hug and a glance by Tazusa back to Pete she disappeared out the door and into the limo taking her to the airport.

It was only ten minutes later that Tazusa managed to muster up the nerve to look at what Pete had given her.

When she unfurled her hand, what she saw made her smile.

It was a small, gold-plated pilot wings pin. On the back there was an inscription, it said, 'P. Pumps Sr.'

…_to be continued._

Yessiree, you've read those three words right. I had absolutely no intention of continuing on from the previous chapter, much less adding _another_ one, but here it is; just for you _nahumthebest_.

As for the name of Pete's father, I tried a few different names, like Paul and Peter, even ones that didn't start with a P, like George or Adam; but all seemed funny and unfitting and nothing seemed right, so I stuck to the age old art of 'if it doesn't work out, name the father after the son.' I think it looks OK.

Also, I only read it over once so there might be some mistakes I missed, so if you see some, feel free to let me know.

Hope you enjoyed though and look forward to the next part which is really going to be the last…probably.


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